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Upcoming Event

The Changing Landscape of Trade Unions – Cambridge

Wednesday 4 November 2026
8:45 am - 11:00 am
The ONE Group, 2030 Cambourne Business Park, Cambridge, CB23 6DW

The Changing Landscape of Trade Unions

Join us for an open and practical roundtable exploring the changing trade union landscape, what upcoming legislative developments could mean for employers, and how HR and operational leaders can confidently navigate their relationships and interactions with trade unions.

About the session

The session will be led by Nick Pascazio, Director of Industrial Relations and Employee Relations at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. Having previously worked with the BBC, Tata Steel and Network Rail, Nick brings extensive hands-on experience of working with trade unions and navigating complex industrial relations.

This roundtable intentionally brings HR and Operations into the conversation together. While HR may understand the legislative framework and wider employee relations implications, it is often an operational leader who finds themselves managing a situation on the ground.

The session will help both parties understand what to expect, the different roles they may play and how they can work together effectively before a situation arises.

What can you expect?

This will be a candid and open conversation led by Nick, exploring how the relationship between employers and trade unions is changing and what this could mean in practice.

With legislative changes set to strengthen trade union access and rights, including greater access to workplaces, organisations need to understand what this could look like and how best to prepare.

The roundtable will give you the opportunity to:

  • Understand the changing trade union and industrial relations landscape.
  • Explore what upcoming legislative developments could mean in practice.
  • Discuss how to prepare for and navigate greater trade union access to the workplace.
  • Consider the different roles HR and operational management may play when dealing with trade union activity.
  • Develop a shared approach between HR and Operations before a situation arises.
  • Explore where tensions can develop between employers and trade unions and how these can be managed.
  • Learn from the real-life experiences of Nick and other organisations.
  • Consider how to build constructive trade union relationships rather than simply reacting when an issue occurs.
  • Build greater confidence in approaching potentially challenging situations.

This will not be a presentation or a session focused purely on legislation. It will be a small, confidential peer discussion where attendees can ask candid questions, share experiences and explore the realities of working with trade unions.

You should leave feeling better connected to others operating in similar environments, with a deeper understanding of the changing landscape and greater confidence in how HR and Operations can work together constructively.

Who is the session for?

This roundtable is designed for a senior HR professional attending alongside an operational leader from their organisation who would be likely to experience or become involved in trade union activity.

The HR attendee may be:

  • A stand-alone HR Manager
  • Head of HR or Head of People
  • HR Director or People Director
  • A senior HR professional responsible for employee or industrial relations

We would encourage the HR attendee to bring an operational colleague who could find themselves involved in trade union activity in practice. This could be a:

  • Site Manager
  • Operations Manager
  • General Manager
  • Senior operational leader with responsibility for managing people on the ground

The session will be relevant both to organisations already working with recognised trade unions and to larger employers for whom union recognition or increased trade union activity could become relevant in the future.

Bringing HR and Operations together creates an opportunity to establish a shared understanding of what to expect, how their responsibilities may differ and how they can respond confidently and constructively when situations arise.

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THE ONE GROUP

Where we're from,
and how we got here

Twenty years of specialist recruitment in the East – and a lot of small decisions that added up.

TOG started in Peterborough in 2004 with a small team and a simple idea: that recruitment is a people business, done best by specialists who stay in their sector long enough to know it properly.

More than two decades on, we've grown into four offices across the East of England and Home Counties. We recruit for finance leaders, HR directors, engineering managers, tech founders, scientists, and the commercial teams that keep businesses running day to day. Between us, we've built up over 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of more than 150,000 candidates we've placed, coached, or come to know across two decades in the region.

The founding principle hasn't changed. Recruitment as it should be.

OUR STORY

Key events timeline

2004

Doors open in Peterborough.

Our first office launches with a team of six on Lynch Wood. Cambridge follows the same year, giving us two offices before our first anniversary.

2015

Northampton makes it three.

Our third office opens with a team of five, quickly growing to eleven consultants covering the wider Midlands region.

2017

Peterborough moves across the road.

The team has outgrown the founding office. We move into Arena House on Lynch Wood, big enough for a growing consultant base and the back-office team that supports the whole group.

2018

Cambridge moves too.

Our second office relocates to Cambourne Business Park, giving the growing Cambridge team the space it now needs.

2023

Four offices, three counties, one very good year.

The Hertfordshire & Essex office opens in Potters Bar, extending our footprint into the Home Counties.

In the same year, we're named Business of the Year in Northamptonshire, and Employer of the Year in both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire at the regional SME Business Awards. Three counties, three panels.

TODAY

Still growing.

Four offices, more than 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of over 150,000 candidates.

Same founding principle.

SPECIALISTS BY DESIGN

What we do

We're specialists, not generalists. Every consultant at TOG focuses on one sector and stays in it. Not because it's the only way to do recruitment, but because it's how you build the depth to spot the difference between a strong CV and a strong hire.

It's also why so many of our clients come back to us years, even decades, after a first placement.

01
Accountancy & Finance
→
 02
Human Resources
→
 03
Commercial Office
Administration, customer service, project management and more
→
 04
Technology
→
 05
Engineering & Manufacturing
→
 06
Scientific
→
 07
Sales, Marketing & Creative
→
 08
Executive Search
Across all of the above
→

Beyond the recruitment itself, we produce annual salary guides, regional market reports, and the practical resources our clients and candidates turn to when they want a clearer view of what's happening in their sector.

THE WAY WE WORK

How we work

Four principles show up in every conversation and every process.
01

Be curious.

We stay interested in the market we work in, and in the people who work in it.

02

Keep it human.

We remember your kids' names and know how you take your coffee. That's just how we work here.

03

Make a difference.

We're here to help people build careers they love and businesses they're proud of.

04

Enjoy the ride.

Recruitment is a career, but it should be fun too. If it isn't, we've done something wrong.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Recruitment
as it should be.

Hire with TOG → Looking for a role →
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